Weeding between the lines

By Jim McGinty

Summer is officially here, and the temperatures have soared to meet their obligations – although our recent storms have brought us (and our gardens) rain, hail, and high winds – all in an attempt to confuse us (and our poor plants) and discourage us. Will we let this happen on our garden watch??!!  I think NOT! So garden on, and we’ll harvest ripe red tomatoes and sweet, delicious corn - maybe we’ll just send any of the poisonous, pernicious provender (squash, eggplant, zucchini!) to our weather anti-forecasters, may they all be paid by their ACCURATE weather predictions!

Meanwhile, out in the garden here at Rancho McGinty, the garlic is approaching harvest, sometime around the end of July.  I’ll stop watering the crop mid-month, so the bulbs do not crack open due to excess moisture.  Our potato plants are huge and dark green, and the pretty blue, white, and yellow flowers tell me that tuber magic is happening under the soil surface – might be time to harvest some baby spuds for a light steaming and some butter, salt, and pepper!

My Alaska-based corn-growing experiment does not look good at this point – the plants have slowed their growth, and tassels are forming, which means that the corn cobs will be small and few in number – bummer.  

During our summer heat, you might want to invest in a few water timers: watering during high temperatures is best accomplished in the early morning, before your precious, expensive water is wasted due to evaporation. Water timers are inexpensive, and can be battery-powered, electric, or just wind up – bottom line, the timers let you sleep in while they turn on the garden hoses for you.

If your June-bearing strawberries are through for the season, now is a good time to fertilize the plants – but if your plants are of the ever-bearing type, you might want to wait until mid-August to fertilize, as too much good stuff, too soon, will make for LOTS of green leaves, and only a handful of strawberry goodness.

If you plan to have an autumn garden, with another harvest of healthy, inexpensive home-grown food, mid-July is a great time to plant seed or transplant starts of bush beans, peas, kale, cabbage, and other short-season plants that can handle a little cool weather towards the end of the gardening season. No sense in letting your hard-won soil go on vacation – garden like you mean it!

Those vine plants (melons, squash, pumpkins, etc.) will want to have their numbers of juvenile fruit reduced at the end of the month, as we want big, ripe versions (except in the case of evil, poisonous plants whose name shall not be mentioned here – okay, squash, there!), and not lots of little, half-ripe chicken food versions, right?! So, as much as it hurts to do so, now is the time to cut back on the creeping, climbing vines and their beautiful blossoms and their cute, little pod creatures – I just use a sharp shovel or pruning shears, and offer the plant remains to the chickens.

GARDEN CALENDAR

On July 10, our local gardening club will be touring another garden in our neighborhood.  This particular garden is home to one of our club members, and is a more formal garden, with lots of features and innovative ideas in place. We’ll meet at Camden Grange, and convoy/carpool to the garden at 7 p.m.  Be sure to bring your cameras (of all types) to take pictures, as you are bound to see to see something you can use or recreate in your own garden – as usual, the public is invited to our tours, and you can read additional information on the club and the tour here.

That’s it for this month – remember to drink lots of beverages, wear sunscreen, and follow all those other hot-weather health-conscious suggestions from your loved ones – they don’t need to find you in the garden, if you know what I mean.